DETAILS

The suit, filed by lawyers with nonprofit legal aid group ArchCity Defenders on behalf of 31-year-old Dwayne Furlow, an African-American, describes that practice as a “warrantless arrest procedure” called a “wanted.” It lists St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, St. Louis County and a St. Louis County police officer called only “Walsh” as defendants.

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he suit, which seeks class-action status, cites the U.S. Department of Justice’s March 2015 report on the Ferguson Police Department, which said that law enforcement in the county uses the system of “wanteds” as a substitute for seeking judicial approval for an arrest warrant.

“It’s obviously more widespread than just Ferguson and St. Louis County. It’s a region-wide practice,” Thomas Harvey, executive director at ArchCity Defenders, said in an interview. He added that the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department also uses the “wanteds” system, which has been in existence in Missouri for many years.